Marco Rubio after Equifax hack: companies should be reporting quickly

Citing the recently disclosed mammoth hack of the Equifax credit ratings company that had occurred last spring, Florida’s Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to the Security and Exchange Commission Wednesday urging it to require companies to make prompt disclosures of hacks that could affect consumers.

Rubio said in his letter to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton that he believes companies that hold Americans’ personal information must be held to a higher standard of security and reporting, lest Americans be exposed to identity theft without being informed in a timely fashion.

Equifax announced Sept. 7 that it had a “cyber security incident.” The announcement revealed a hacking effort that netted personal information on more than 140 million Americans dated as early as May and was discovered and plugged by the company in July. In that period, hackers were able to steal identity and financial information on more than 140 million Americans. The company acknowledged the hackers were able to obtain names, Social Security numbers, birthdays and addresses on those clients, and driver license numbers on many.

Credit card numbers were stolen for 209,000 people and certain “documents with personal identifying information” for 182,000, the company announced.

“This breach, and others like it, have made Americans vulnerable to identity theft and scams,” Rubio wrote to Clayton. “The reality of our data-rich 21st century requires that we take security guardrails very seriously, and ensure the federal government is upholding the trust Americans need for their full participation in the national economy.”

“For this reason, I write to urge that, to the maximum extent consistent with the law, the Securities and Exchange Commission require companies to promptly disclose significant hacks of material impact that make Americans vulnerable to identity theft,” Rubio implored.

Rubio declared that companies holding Americans’ personal information should be held to a higher security standard.

“In recognizing this, I urge that you prioritize transparency actions for Equifax so that consumers can be aware of their status with adequate time to take appropriate remediation steps,” he concluded.